


Dads Would Do Anything

by foundmyhome



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Cobra - Freeform, Captain Cobra Swan, Cute, Daddy!Killian, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 00:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3957475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foundmyhome/pseuds/foundmyhome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for the prompt: "Henry calling Killian Dad by accident and Killian being awestruck."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dads Would Do Anything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HarrysHook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarrysHook/gifts).



“Dad, would you pass me the potatoes?”

It was a slip of the tongue. Nothing to get too excited about. That’s what Killian was thinking, harshly, loudly, on repeat; his hand shook when he handed Henry the dish. The lad didn’t even look up from his plate, still shoveling his supper into his mouth, but Killian could feel Emma’s eyes on the side of his face. He avoided her glance, his blood pounding in his head, too afraid to look at her.

Henry, quickly, had become the most important person in his life. After his heart had been haphazardly shoved back into his chest, the love he felt for Emma blinded him. He expected that; she was, after all, his light. What had surprised him was the ache he had felt, remembering Henry’s harsh words and marbled trap. Of course, the lad was cursed and he couldn’t hold that against the boy. But Killian was a villain and all Henry had ever wanted was to be a hero; was it so farfetched to assume that Emma’s boy didn’t like him? 

He had thrown himself into becoming a better role model. He taught Henry sailing, with even more fervor than before, desperate to show him that he was changed and had things to offer. Sometimes it felt pointless; other times, when Henry’s carefree laugh caught on the wind and wrapped around Killian, it felt like the point of his everything. With very little warning, his complete adoration and love for Henry bulldozed him. It was stronger than any other feeling in his life, second only to Emma herself. More than the memories of his mother, than Liam’s warm praises, than Milah’s soft devotion-- stronger than any of the loves he had based his entire life around, Killian fell madly in love with the little Swan.

It almost made him laugh, now, to remember how sure he was that he didn’t even have a heart. Swan and her boy now filled the whole thing, making it splutter and nearly burst with every smile. As much as he had hoped to be a father to Bae, Killian’s desire to be there for Henry eclipsed it a thousand times over.

“These are good, Mom,” Henry piled on more of the food onto his plate. Ever the growing boy, he ate with a ferocity that made them both laugh.

Emma ruffled his hair, breaking from the trance his words had put her in. “Killian made them.”

Henry looked up, grinning. “Well, then, thanks to Killian.”

\--

It wasn’t until later that evening, after Henry had bid them goodnight and he had climbed into his own bed, that Emma brought up the exchange.

“He called you Dad,” she raised an eyebrow at him. Killian pretended that he wasn’t blushing. Emma threw the covers off her side of the bed, sliding in next to him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she covered his hand with hers. “He called you Dad.”

“I’m sorry.” He offered. He knew Emma and Bae had a complicated past; he knew that she loved him almost as much as she hated him. What he didn’t know was how she felt about her son placing a title with that heaviness onto him.

Emma straightened up, pulling at his arm until he faced her. “You’re sorry?”

“Aye, love.” He scratched the sore spot behind his ear, anxious. “I know that you worry about him not knowing his father.”

“He knew Neal,” she argued. “But Neal’s gone now. Are you sorry that he thinks of you that way?”

It had been many months since he had seen his Emma look as guarded as she did now, sitting in their bed. Her blonde hair was gathered on the top of her head, rebelling curls slipping from the bun and laying across her cheeks and neck. She was the most beautiful vision, all ivory skin and golden curls. He thought that she had never looked quite as beautiful as she did right then, worried green eyes flickering across his face, long fingers wrapped tightly around the hook.

“No, lass. I could never be sorry to hear that he thinks fondly of me.”

“I don’t expect you to think of him like that. I could talk to him, if you wanted, if it makes you uncomfortable-”

“Aye, uncomfortable is a good word.”

And Killian was sure she had never looked as devastated.

“Oh. Right. I’ll talk to Henry in the morning.”

She turned, quickly, onto her side, flickering the lights off with a blink of her eyes. While she had begun introducing magic with ease and comfort into her every day life, it seemed more like an accident than usual.

He leaned next to her, his body wrapping around hers. He put his good arm around her side, pulling her into him. “Emma, love. Please don’t.”

“You don’t want me to talk to him?”

“I would despair if you did.”

The lights in their bedroom shot back on. “Killian, I-”

“I love him, of course.”

Emma pushed him off of her, sitting back up. A smile tugged at her lips. “You do?”

“Aye.” Killian pulled her hands into his lap, playing with her long fingers. “More than sun and the sea.”

Emma’s answering grin momentarily blinded him; his breath fell out of his mouth in a quick burst. “Then why does it make you uncomfortable?”

He hesitated. “I only worry that it would make Henry uncomfortable, to know that I feel so strongly.”

Emma shook her head, quickly. “No, Killian. No, he thinks the world of you.”

They laid down again, Emma pulling his arms so they wrapped around her warmly. When they fell asleep that night, Killian’s dreams were filled with his Emma and their little Swan, of families, and of a feeling he was afraid of admitting felt an awful lot like belonging.

\--

The next time it happened, it was a month later while the pair were fishing. Shortly after things settled in Storybrooke, Emma surprised him with a new boat of his very own. It had been a long time since anyone had given him anything, and Killian is barely ashamed of how teary eyed he became.

Henry had taken quite a liking to The Royal Swan, wearing his own Captain’s hat and begging Killian to take him out whenever the weather was appropriate.

While Killian hadn’t fished for pleasure since his childhood, he was quite capable at the task. It had been rare that he had used it as a means to relax, but when Henry had quickly taken a liking to the activity, he was determined to find joy in it. It was easy enough, seeing the little lad’s excitement anytime he got a nibble.

They had been out for over an hour, their conversation drifting into silence, when it happened. Killian had been lost in his own thoughts, considering different gifts he could get for Emma. It was nearly that blasted holiday, the one about a saint and chocolate. While he was thoroughly unfamiliar with it, both Henry, Snow, and Granny had told him it was crucial for him to really wow Emma. He didn’t think Emma wow’d easily, but damn him if he wasn’t going to at least try.

“Oh my god!” Henry exclaimed, jumping up. The Royal Swan dipped under the sudden new pressure and Killian quickly got to his feet. “I got something! Dad! Dad, look, I think I got something!”

Killian’s heart, for the second time, completely stopped. 

Henry whipped his head around, staring at Killian incredulously. His lips parted and his eyes widened, his face losing color. The pole began to slip through his fingers.

Even with his eyes being blurry, Killian was a pirate and his reflexes were unparalleled; he lunged and grabbed the fishing pole, quickly tossing it back to Henry. The lad caught it easily and began to tug in earnest.

When the fish flopped onto the deck of the boat, Killian thought his lungs and chest would burst from the warm, heavy pride swimming inside his veins. He laughed, turning around to quickly wipe at his eyes. He swallowed heavily before turning back to grin at Henry.

“Well done, laddie.”

The beaming smile Henry offered to him was worth every terrible thing that had ever happened to him.

—

The third time wasn’t quite so nice.

The dragon woman’s thin hand closed around Henry’s upper arm, throwing him behind her body and trapping him in a puff of purple smoke.

“Dad!” Henry cried, reaching for him. His hand lit up, a glimmering wall of magic shuddering as his hand touched it. His small body shook, his eyes wide and desperate.

Killian couldn’t remember a time when he was so afraid. All of his worst moments flash before him— when his brother began to fall to the grounds of Neverland, his existence tampering away; when Milah’s face morphed in horror and terror as the Crocodile crushed her away; when he stood, trapped by magic and vines, as Emma walked unknowingly to her death; those moments defined him, ruined him, made parts of him he didn’t know existed scream out and writhe in agony.

They seemed fleeting, meaningless, as he watched the lad cry out for his help.

“Dad, help! Please!”  
The dragon was speaking, but Killian couldn’t focus on her words. All he could focus on was Henry’s wide, darting eyes as they filled with tears.

He had been the one to take Henry here, to this secluded part of the wood. With all the new villains in town— reformed or not— Killian didn’t want to take the chance that Henry would be at risk. Though his grandfather had taught him the basics, Killian knew no one fought with a sword like a pirate did. He wanted Henry to be able to protect himself, even if his mothers swore he wouldn’t need to.

“Let go of him right bloody now.” His voice was darker than it had been in centuries, his blood boiling inside his veins to the point that his skin felt aflame. 

The dragon raised an eyebrow, stepping backwards and grinning. Her lips spread and her teeth were bared and the grin seemed more malicious than anything; she ran one long fingernail across Henry’s cheek. The lad whimpered quietly, his sword halfway across the wood, and Killian fought fervently against the magic holding him in place.

“Don’t tell me the fearsome Captain Hook has come to love the Savior’s son?” She laughed.

Henry was fighting wildly against the traps, but the dragon’s claws wrapped around his shoulder, her fingers dragging against his neck.

“I do hate to kill a child,” she murmured. Killian’s head began to throb, his heart clenching and his lungs filling as he tried to get to the lad, “but it’s the best way to get the Savior’s attention.”

She closed her fingers around Henry’s neck and he let out a sob, his eyes begging Killian.

“Kill me!” Killian cried. “Kill me, kill me, kill me!”

The dragon paused, her grip loosening on Henry but not completely letting him go. “A son is a more powerful loss than a lover.”

Killian’s bones felt weak, his muscles useless. He couldn’t be ashamed that frustrated tears were gathering in the corners of his eyes. “If you kill Henry—” his voice cracked but he pushed through, “you’ll have them all after you. Emma’s not his only mother and his extended family reaches nearly everyone.”

The dragon flickered her hand and Killian was propelled forward until he was merely inches away from her face. “But if I kill you,” she began.

Killian swallowed against the hard lump in his throat. “Only Emma will suffer.”

Henry began to fight again, his sobs wracking his body. “Dad, no!”  
The dragon was still staring at him, her face scrunched and her eyes boring into his. He ignored her, for a moment, to look at Emma’s little lad.

He loved him, at that moment, more fiercely than he ever had before. He wished he’d had the chance to tell Henry that he considered him his son.

“Very well!” She flickered another wrist and Henry went flying backwards, his body smacking loudly against a tree.

“Henry!” Killian lunged for him, the sound echoing in his mind, but suddenly the dragon witch was nothing but a dragon. Henry let out a soft groan, and though Killian was going to die, he couldn’t help but only feel relived.

“I love you, laddie,” he told him, closing his eyes. He wouldn’t fight, wouldn’t try to save himself when it meant risking Henry; he had told his Swan he was a survivor, but more than that, he hoped in that moment he was a father.

—

“You stupid, stupid, stupid pirate!” Emma enunciated each word with a soft kiss to his face, her whole body shaking as she raked her fingers through his hair.

Emma and her parents, armed with knowledge of the dragon’s daughter, had saved him.

“I couldn’t let anything happen to your boy, Swan,” he said softly. He was thankful to be here, inside the Charmings loft with Emma at his side and Henry asleep upstairs. But he didn’t regret his decision, not even for a moment.

“You could have died.”

Killian wasn’t sure how to reply, how to alleviate her worry; he couldn’t promise her he’d never be that stupid again. He couldn’t promise he wouldn’t do anything for Henry, and he knew that Emma wouldn’t want him to.

David saved him from answering, coming from behind him with a cup of cocoa for Emma. He handed it to her and put his arm around Mary Margaret, who passed Killian a cup of herbal tea.

“I said the same thing to your father right after you were born,” she mused.

David chuckled, smiling warmly at the pair on the couch. “Don’t be too mad, Ems.” He shot Killian a look, softer than his usual ones. “Dads would do anything for their kids.”


End file.
